


A Royal Flush

by Captain_Lexa



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adultery, Affairs, Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Character Death, Death, Divorce, Execution, F/M, I Tried, M/M, Marriage, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Partners, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 23:25:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19161133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Lexa/pseuds/Captain_Lexa
Summary: Henry VIII inspired Starker AU: Starting with King Tony's first marriage and following him through to his last one.You don't need to know anything about history to enjoy! Also, I didn't read it over. I just prayed for death <3





	A Royal Flush

**Author's Note:**

> Up until Tony's marriage to Peter, most of this will be historically accurate-- as per my obsessive stalking of Wikipedia and Six! the musical.

****Anthony Stark was twenty-one when his parents died, and he married Maya Hansen of Aragon. She was a lady of high status, intelligent enough to make the common people proud, but submissive enough to their king that they didn’t reject her for her arrogance. It was a smart match.

 

With her, their king seemed to be in good spirits. He kept a festive court, hunting, jousting, writing and playing music, and campaigning for the further technological advancement of their kingdom. Everything and everyone was prospering.

 

And then, after sixteen years of marriage, he met a boy.

 

Harley Keener was a young individual within Maya’s entourage. He was only about seventeen when they met, but he was a remarkable, quick-witted nobleman who danced with a graceful ease and showed an interest in Tony’s projects that was, perhaps, mostly innocent. His energy and vitality made him the center of attention in any social gathering, as well as The King’s fatuation.

 

Still, he refused Tony’s advances. Anyone would be flattered to be invited into his quarters, and Harley _assured_ him he was, but he refused to be anyone’s mistress. He was a tease. The mischievous shine he held in his eyes whenever Tony grew tired of his games, moving in for more only to be stopped by a slender hand to his chest, gave him away.

 

Now, Tony wasn’t used to being resisted, but he was also a strong man. He wouldn’t cave to Harley’s tactics-- not immediately, at least. It was another five years of this little cat and mouse game before his sweet southern whispers in Tony’s ear persuaded The King to banish Maya from court and give her rooms to none other than the boy who wouldn’t even join him in bed.

 

Nevertheless, Tony persisted.

 

He continued to court the object of his affections, despite his marriage to the now absent Queen. Rumors of the relationship spread throughout the palace like wildfire and soon even the common folk were talking. Tony liked to think he could ignore it, but it soon became obvious that public support remained with Queen Maya.

 

As one of the servants had recalled it, Harley had been out one night, dining at a manor house on the river Thames when an angry crowd of women almost seized him. They shouted names at him, referring to him as “the naughty prostitute” or “The King’s whore” as they hurled rock after rock. Harley had only just managed to escape by boat.

 

The incident all the motivation Tony needed. With his wife having been gone for a year now, the public favor ever declining, and his mistresses growing more and more incapable of distracting him from his Harley induced lust, something had to be done.

 

He decided to petition the Pope for a papal annulment that would free him to remarry. He was rebuffed, of course, but with the backing of the English parliament and clergy, Tony decided that he didn’t need the pope’s permission to rule on issues affected _his_ church.

 

Going forth with his plan, he declared himself separated from Maya and within a year had married Harley. The Pope excommunicated the pair of them, as expected, but Tony was never big on religion in the first place. As far as his kingdom was concerned, he was the closest anyone was ever going to see to a god.

 

Nearly three years of bliss passed for the two kings, combining their intelligence in most of all matters. Perhaps there were a time or two that Tony asked his spouse to step into the background, but Harley was opinionated and hard to tame. The exact opposite of his bride before.

 

Maybe it was her more subdued nature that drew Tony’s eye to Pepper, a former maid of honor to Maya, who now served in Harley’s court. Despite being much older than his current spouse, Pepper was still a gorgeous woman, and like Harley, she refused to be made a mistress. Although, that’s not to say she was entirely immune to her king’s seduction.

 

Sweet brown eyes and whispered promises had won her heart within a month. At night, after much of the palace had already turned in for the night, Tony was able to persuade her more than once to join him on his throne-- sitting upon his lap in a nature that, while not sexual, was in no way innocent.

 

Tony didn’t even realize it the first time Harley caught them, entirely immersed in the faint freckles that adorned the woman’s cheeks. Blinded by this new love, he didn’t see the way Harley’s face fell-- turning first to sadness and then a watery rage as he returned to the shadows he had emerged from (bidding his love to their bed, no doubt).

 

The next time any such incident occurred, Tony wasn’t present. Pepper was still seated on the throne, as she often was at these times, but she wasn’t talking to their shared beloved. Instead, her smile was focused on the locket around her neck. She toyed with it innocently, smiling to herself as she flicked it open and shut again and again to reveal her king’s picture inside.

Upon seeing this, the watery rage Harley had worn before, boiled over. He crossed the room with intent, ripping off the necklace with such force that his fingers bled.

 

Shockingly enough, Pepper never mentioned the incident, her conscience and shame temporarily straining the relationship between her and The King. Likewise, the dispute that followed between Harley and Tony was one from which their marriage would never recover.

 

Apart from the January of 1536, in which they both wore yellow to celebrate the death of Maya, the two suffered for much of their remaining days together.

 

It was only a matter of time before Tony started looking for a way out of this marriage, just as he had his last. Obviously, the people hadn’t responded the best to something so sinful as a divorce, narrowing it down to the oldest most guaranteed way out of a marriage as possible.

 

A death.

 

When there was none more powerful than you, however, why bother faking an accidental death? Why not just throw out some crimes and see what stuck? After all, Harley was already hated by most of the country. It was far too easy to claim the young boy used some sort of witchcraft on him, ordering he be investigated for high treason all while inviting Pepper to live in the royal quarters.

 

By May 2nd, Harley had already been arrested and sent before a jury of his peers, and by May 15th, he’d been found guilty of a number of charges-- not because there was evidence, but because The King had said so.

 

In the beginning, Harley had been distraught, fearful, heartbroken even. (At least, that’s what the guards said. Tony hadn’t so much as glimpsed his husband since the arrest.) Now though, now it was said that Harley seemed very happy and ready to be done with life.

 

Done with Tony, surely.

 

As one last gift and in hope of alleviating some of his guilty conscience, Tony elected for his ex husband to be beheaded, rather than burned. Hell, he even brought in an expert swordsman, rather than have his young king beheaded with the common axe.

 

It was the day of Harley’s execution that Tony witnessed this devilish spirit, watching from the palace window as Harley took his place on the scaffolding.

 

“Good people,” The boy had started, his voice overcome with a weakness that did not match his joyful demeanor. “I have been judged and sent here to die. I will speak nothing against the law, nor will I speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die…. But-”

 

It was hard to track his eyes from this distance, but Tony was sure they turned with Harley’s head as he cocked it towards the very window he stood at.

 

“-I do pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.”

 

Whether or not these words were meant to inspire guilt within his former beloved or to try and ease the way for the rest of Harley’s family after his passing, Tony couldn’t be sure.

 

“And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.”

 

By this point in the speech, the crowd of people who had once referred to the boy as ‘The King’s whore’, were overcome with tears that were only faintly echoed in the eyes of the condemned.

 

Even as he knelt before the swordsman, blindfolded by one of his favorite ladies in waiting, Harley was smiling faintly and whispering in a wavering breath, “O Lord, have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul. O Lord, have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul-” and so he repeated until the first swing fell.

 

A day later, Tony was engaged.

 

Almost a year later, he was married and a father to a little girl named Morgan Stark.

 

She was two weeks old when she lost her mother, and Tony’s third marriage came to an abrupt end.


End file.
